For all those film festival buffs who had been the ardent fans of the Iranian films, that narrated simple emotional stories with children, this one is indeed a treat. Debutant director Mohan Raghavan has created an unusual Mollywood movie exactly in the same league of festival winners, with his debut film 'T D Dasan, Standard VI B'. The movie has debutant Alexander as T D Dasan, who lives with his mother Chandrika (Shwetha Menon) in a sleepy village near Chittur in Palakkad. Chandrika who is deserted by her husband Diwakaran long back, works in a local matchstick factory and is struggling to get both ends meet. One day, while searching for something in his mother's trunk box, Dasan gets an address of his dad who walked out of their house when he was a year old. Dasan immediately writes one letter to this address explaining all his woes and pains for not being with his father. The letter reaches Keystone Villa to where it was addressed and where Dasan's father Diwakaran was working as a driver. But as of now, the house is inhabited by an ad filmmaker named Nandan (Biju Menon), who lives there with his only daughter Ammu (Teena Rose), a little prodigy and a short story writer. She gets affected by the innocence of Dasan's lines and starts writing replies to Dasan, as if they were written by his dad. The reply to Dasan comes to him as every sort of blessing, an only chance of reconnecting to his father .But very soon the myths, surrounding the village and coincidences were to take his story to a different turn. The soft social commentary that runs all along, addressing the anti-coal war to the social forestry promotions that never take a preachy tone, is the highlight of the movie. The marvellous direction coupled with sensitive writing makes Mohan Raghavan, the most impressive debut in recent times. The director gloriously continues his experiments with narratives allowing the ad maker Nandhan to think wild around the frame of the letter addressed to a long gone father. His attempts on finding its possible later half, for a feature film is constructed inside the narratives in a charming way, never dissuading any interests from the original story. The movie upholds the belief on human values and at the same time gives the multi layered diverse viewpoints of village and town, reality, myths and fiction, and that of children and grownups. The movie which is definitely a brilliant outcome, is supported by everyone from its lead cast of children, who are spontaneous in their acting .Others including Biju Menon, Vatsala Menon and Shwetha menon plays their parts to true extremes. The only song by Sreevatsan J Menon is another great piece of work, after his songs for ‘Laptop’. Sreevatsan's BG scores are also a treat to hear. The camera work by Arun Varma and editing by Vinod Sukumaran also needs special mention. So is the art work by Sunil Kochanoor and costumes by Rasak Thirur. At the same time, It is also of great regret to say that the reviewer was only able to watch the movie in his third attempt, the first two becoming unsuccessful due to the need of a minimum audience to run the show in the release centers .If this is the fate of sensible, brilliant Mollywood movies in Box Office, we are damn sure that no kind of producer agitations or financial regulatory measures are going to help the industry from a possible destruction. The connoisseurs of good cinema, it is high time for you to stand up and parade inside theatres to help such honest sensitive ventures that are going to be the worthy mascots of our industry, everywhere. Verdict : Good Tags: T D Dasan Standard VI B, malayalam movies, mallu movies, mallu actors, mallu actress, T D Dasan Standard VI B reviews, wallpapers, pictures, images, stills, mallu pictures
Saturday, May 8, 2010
T D Dasan Standard VI B Movie Review
Kadha Thudarunnu-- Review
Sathyan Anthikkad
Ilaiyaraja
Jayaram, Mamta Mohandas, Asif Ali
That's the first thing which comes to your mind as you watch his latest film,Kadha Thudarunnu. Yes, there is an okay storyline here and the film has its moments for sure, but the problem is the old-fashioned way it has been packaged.
Shanavas Ahmad (Asif Ali), a key board player and Vidyalakshmi (Mamta Mohandas) marries against the wishes of their families. They are left on their own and a song later, they have a cute little daughter. Tragedy strikes soon, when some goonda gangs kill Shanavas by mistake and Vidya has virtually no where to go from then on.
Some dramatic turnarounds happens and she meets a virtuous auto-driver Preman (Jayaram), who takes her to his modest colony. Quite a few interesting characters played by KPAC Lalitha, Innocent, Mamukoya, Lakshmipriya, Chembil Asokan and so on takes the story ahead for a while. Now, Vidya soon becomes a part of their lives and they change her life as well.
Now, if you are not looking forward to some experiments, love watching those mushy tearjerkers on TV and your concept is somewhere on the lines of those Sooraj Barjatya kind of films where the lead characters all come in an often unbelievable shades of white, chances are that you can find this one fine enough. Perhaps Sathyan too is not there to prove a point and is happy repeating his trademark style as well!
There are some touching situations in the film but then, the storyline itself moves ahead in a rather predictable way. However, it is to the credit of the director that he has narrated a story from the point of view of a woman, which is a rarity during these times.
Mamta Mohandas has a challenging role at her hands and she handles it pretty fine as well. Jayaram has nothing much to do, but the film gets out of its sluggish pace only after his character arrives almost close to the first half.
Asif Ali gets a good platform but his chemistry with Mamta is rather disappointing on screen. Baby Anikha, who plays Vidyalakshmi's daughter, looks cute. The supporting characters look perhaps like those stereotyped ones in any story of this nature. Venu's camera is fine and Ilaiyaraja's tunes are quite good.
It is meant for those easily-moved, over-sentimental sorts who are not at the theatres to bother too much about its script or style. It's not in the league of the director's own Bhagyadevatha, which came out last year, and suffers when he tries a bit too hard to make it unbelievably idealistic at times. Fine, may be, but could have been better!
Verdict: Average
Tags: kadha thudarunnu, jayaram, sathyan Anthikkad, mamta Mohandas, malayalam films, film reviews, movie reviews, kada thudarunnu reviews, mallu actress, mamata pictures, mamta wallpapers, mallu pictures, mallu movies
Pokkiri Raja -- Review
Mammootty, Prithviraj, Shriya Saran
As it is a custom in most of the movies of the genre in Malayalam these days, this film also begins with some flashback sequences, when the heroes were young and gets involved in certain scuffles with a rival gang. The elder one, Raja (Mammootty), moves to Madurai and becomes a don there. He sports a walrus moustache, speaks in broken English meant to evoke laughs and travels in a swanky BMW, religiously followed by more than a dozen Innova cars.
Before Raja makes his entry, almost the entire first half is focused on his younger brother Surya (Prithviraj) and his escapades. Both the men can beat any number of thugs to a pulp, sing, dance or mouth sensational dialogues. Soon, Raja comes on time when Surya is in trouble, the song-dance-dialogues-fight cycle repeats.
It is a rather poor hotchpotch of sequences from Rajamanikyam, Annan Thampi, Puthiya Mugham, Boeing Boeing (Salim Kumar trying to ape Jagathy's funny act with less finesse) and from several other films. Of course, there is no problem in having films which are just meant to entertain the viewers and the kind that ask them to leave their brains back home. But then, such films should have at least a half decent storyline and some nice moments. No such luck here!
What the film succeeds in the end is providing some fantastic visuals while the heroes make their appearance and both have been presented in super style. Mammootty and Prithviraj look handsome in their own way and the scenarist duo of Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishna have succeeded in allotting almost equal footage to them. Vysakh has done his bit to give style to every frame, with the heroes in it. But at around two hours and forty five minutes the film is tad too lengthy, especially for a loud one like this.
Shriya Saran plays Prithviraj's pair in the film and she has nothing much to do other than to look pretty. Siddique and Riyas Khan play the baddies, though they look like mere caricatures, at the hands of the heroes. Suraj Venjarammood and Salim Kumar try their best to tickle the funny bones with their usual buffoonery, but generally fall flat. Shaji's visuals look good and Jassie Gift's compositions suit the mood.
It's true that the viewers look forward just to have some entertaining moments and some spectacular visuals and are prepared to let logic take a backseat. But the question is, why can't its makers try to come up with a genuine script when they have two of Malayalam's highly saleable heroes with them, in a rare casting-coup?
Verdict: Mass Masala
Tags: mammooty, pokkiri raja, prithviraj, shriya saran, mallu films, film reviews, pokkiri raja review, wallpapers, photos, mallu films, malayalam films, mammootty wallpapers, latest news, malayalam films, mallu actors, mallu actress
Saturday, April 10, 2010
JANAKAN-REVIEW
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Worse still, the same storyline was narrated by director M A Nishad in his film Vairam last year and it is sad that no earnest attempts have been made to package this one in a better way than the earlier film.
Viswanathan (Suresh Gopi), Monayi (Biju Menon) and Palani (Harisree Asokan) are fleeing from the cops and after several hurdles, they manage to reach ace lawyer Sooryanarayanan (Mohanlal). He listens to their rather tragic story, according to which Viswanathan's teenage daughter was gang raped and brutally murdered by a dirty trio, consisting of a super-rich businessman, a cop and a young DJ.
Dr. Rani (Jyothirmayee), who had taken care of the girl at the hospital, reveals certain crucial facts to Viswanathan. After their plea for justice falls on deaf ears, Viswanathan, Monayi and Palani kill the three miscreants, one after the other. Now Sooryanarayanan decides to help them, with his smart wit and brilliance.
Director Sanjeev and scenarist S N Swamy has gone for the highly conventional ways to narrate the story. From the hero-is-always-smart type quips and the thrills with well built hunks which he wins hands down, to the excessive melodrama, there are many scenes modeled on the formulaic films of this genre! Mohanlal has a comparatively brief role, but he has almost all the stylish lines in his kitty and the versatile genius is evidently at ease doing it all in a charming way.
Though one of main highlights of the film is the bond between a couple and their darling daughter, that part is almost ignored here. The chemistry shared between Suresh Gopi, his wife played by Kaveri and their daughter is ineffective on screen and that affects the whole mood of the film as well. Of course, Suresh Gopi tries really hard and he succeeds in his attempt to look convincing to a certain extent, but both Kaveri and the young girl fails to impress. Remember, Tamil actor Pasupathi had done a spectacular performance in a similar role in Vairam.
The rest of the cast including Jyothirmayee, Biju Menon, Harisree Asokan, Vijayaraghavan, Sivaji Guruvayur, Vijayakumar and Rajith Menon have limited roles to play. Sanjeev Sankar's camera is just okay while M Jayachandran's music is pretty nice.
There are no real experiments here, true, but the film has its moments and as they say, the heart at the right place. Though the film is just above two hours, it could have been more enjoyable, if it was shorter by some 20 minutes or so.
Verdict: Watchable
Tags: Mohanlal, sureshgopi, reviews, janakan reviews, janakan, upcoming movies, film reports, new releases, mohanlal wallpapers, latest news
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Pramaani with a clean ‘U’
The latest Mammootty movie is released this month 'Pramaani' was censored yesterday with a clean ‘U’ certificate. The preview reports are very positive as most opine the movie to be a good family entertainer with a heartfelt rendering of the title character by the megastar Mammootty. Sneha is the heroine of this movie which is scripted by the director himself. The movie will make a big release on the 26th of this month. Produced by B C Joshy in the banner of Surya cinema, ‘Pramaani’ will be brought to the theatres by Mammootty's “Playhouse”. Tags: mammootty, pramaani, mammotty new films, upcoming movies, new malayalam movies, playhouse, sneha
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
In Ghost House Inn opening big on March 25!
All eyes are on In Ghost House Inn produced and directed by Lal under his Lal Creations and releasing on Thursday, March 25 in nearly 85 screens in Kerala. The film with a running time of 2 hours and 12 minutes has been censored on Monday (March 22), with a clean ‘U’ certificate and there is a positive buzz about the film. It is a sequel to last year’s mega hit 2 Harihar Nagar, which itself is a sequel to the all time super hit Harihar Nagar. In Ghost House Inn has the same star cast like2 Harihar Nagar, consisting of Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadish, Ashokan, Rohini, Lena, Reena Basheer, Rakhi, and Harisree Ashokan, Music is by Alex Paul. The movie will contain the same characters Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindan Kutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadeesh) and Thomaskutty (Asokan). Apart from them Rohini appears as Mahadevan’s wife, Lena as Govindan Kutty’s wife, Fabi as Appukuttan’s wife and Rakhi as Thomas Kutty’s wife. This time, the story moves from Kochi to Ooty as the four friends decides to spend a vacation in the big bungalow, purchased by Thomaskutty with the money that he has got in the climax of 2 Harihar Nagar. As they celebrate a ghost from their past surfaces unleashing horror and more fun for the audiences. Tags: In Ghost House, new malayalam movies, upcoming films, latest news
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Upcoming Malayalam Movies
The summer of 2010 is going to be exciting, as a lot of big and small films are due for release.
The Malayalam film industry is not bothered about the IPL tournament which is clashing with school holidays, Easter and Vishu festivals.
Here is the tentative list of films due for summer. The below-mentioned release dates have been given by the producers and distributors of these films. It may change depending on factors like availability of theatres, censor and other production issues.
1.March 25- In Ghost House Inn- Mukesh, Asokan, Jagadish. Director: Lal.
2.March 26- Pramani- Mammootty, Sneha, Prabhu. Director: B Unnikrishnan.
3. April 1- April Fool- Sidique, Jagadish, Jagathy. Director: Viji Thampy.
4. April 1- Pulliman- Kalabhavan Mani, Meera Nandan. Director: Anil K Nair.
5.April 2- Janakan- Suresh Gopi, Mohanlal (Special Appearance). Dir: NR Sanjiv
6. April 9- Paapi Appacha- Dileep, Innocent, Kavya. Director: Mammas
7. April 14- Alexander the Great- Mohanlal. Jagadish. Director: Murali Nagavalli
8. April 30- Pokkiri Raja- Mammootty. Prithviraj. Shriya. Director: Vaisakh.
9. April 30- UNTITLED, Sathyan Anthikad directed film with Jayaram and Mamta.
Tags: malayalam movies, mohanlal, mammootty, suresh gopi, dileep, pokkiri raja, janakan, pramani, paapi appacha, In Ghost House, vishu movies, upcoming movies
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Manisha Koirala in Malayalam!!!
After top heroines Shriya Saran and Sameera Reddy, now another Bollywood beauty Manisha Koirala is making her debut in Mollywood. Manisha, who had done films like Bombay, Indian, Muthalvan and Baba is now making a comeback in Tamil as Dhanush’s arrogant mother-in-law inMaapillai. The pretty actress has signed on the dotted line in noted art house Malayalam director Shyamaprasad’s next film tentatively titled Electra! She will play the role of Nayanthara’s mother, a very crucial character. The film is based on a Greek play, and has Nishan, the hero of Shyam’s earlier film Rithu playing the male lead. When Manisha was contacted in Mumbai, the actress said: “I‘m really happy to do a Shyamaprasad film, in which I have a very crucial and meaty role”. Shyamaprasad’s Electra produced by Vindhyan will start rolling in April. Prakash Raj plays Manisha’s husband and Nayanthara’s father in the film. National award winning music director Ousepachan will provide the music. Tags:Manisha Koirala, malayalam actress
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Pramaani Preview
After the big Mohanlal hit ‘Maadambi’, the same team of producer and director are coming together for a Mammootty flick ‘Pramaani’. Directed and scripted by B Unnikrishnan, the movie is presently in the final stages of post production.
Mammootty plays Viswanatha Panikkar, a corrupt panchayat president of the Kuttanad area. Mammootty is acting in a role speaking Kuttanad slang after 12 years, the last being 'Thachiledathu Chundan' which was a big hit. In this movie, he is nicknamed as Pramaani, as he is the keeper of many land documents in his name. Occasionally he is also called as America, as he shows a penchant to play a big brother whenever there is a situation. Not only he makes louder opinions in such spaces, but also finally take charge of the lives of the affected. The movie goes on to tell how he mends ways, repent and turn a new leaf at certain point of his life.
Sneha is the heroine of the movie who plays Janaki, the newly arrived upright panchayat secretary, who becomes one of the reasons behind the transformation of Viswanatha Panikkar. The movie with plenty of punch lines and powerful dialogues will also takes a satirical look at the present day politics.
Janardhanan plays Castro Vareeth, the leftist president of neighbouring panchayat who is at constant clash with Viswanatha Panikkar, Suraj is Mao Murugan, a hardcore revolutionary and ardent fan of Che Guevara. Tamil actor Prabhu and Fahad Fazil also have two prominent roles in the movie. Also in the cast are Siddhique, Saikumar, Suresh Krishna, Sreelatha, Salimkumar, P. Sreekumar and Lakshmi Priya.
While Shyam Dutt is in charge of camera, M Jayachandran handles the music. Manoj does the editing. Produced by B C Joshy in the banner of Surya Cinema, ‘Pramaani’ will be in theatres by the end of this month.
Tags: Mammootty,new movies, mollywood movies, mammooty latest projects, mammooty films, Mammootty upcoming stills
Friday, March 12, 2010
Mammooty joining again with Blessy
Blessy one of the finest director in malayalam now is planning a new movie with Mammooty. Recently he comes with Bhramaram and the film got good response from all over. Blessy who last worked with Mammootty in Palunku has now written the story of his new film Kayam, which will be scripted by debutant Viju Ramachandran and directed by Sebastin who directed the star in Maya Bazaar
Mammootty agreed to do this realistic film after reading Blessy’s story about a man who was working in Dubai, had to come back to Kerala after recession set in the gulf. Back home he has to look after his two daughters who are going to a convent school and has to complete the work on his unfinished house. In a nutshell, Blessy wants to show the plight of Lakhs of Malayalee workers who have been left high and dry by the economic turmoil in the gulf.
Now Mammooty is busy with the shooting of Pokkiri Raja and the movie will start its shoot after the shooting of PokkiriRaja.
Cassanova
Cassanova is the new film of Lalettan where the talented Roshan Andrews is weilding the mega phone.Sanju-Bobby is scripting the movie. The movie is produced Jointly by Confident Group and Imprassario Pictures. Vaisakha movies is the distributors of the movie. The movie is going to be shot Exclusively in Malaysia and Thailand. Action sequences are going to be choreographed by Hollywood Stunt man on the Sky scrapers of Malaysia.
According to Roshan Andrews,it is a story of a man who has full of love in his heartand Mohanlals charachter is that of a business man of flowers. He also stated in the latest interviws is that this is a charachter taht can be done only by Mohanlal. I am quoting his words here....Cassanova....athu lalettane pattu vere oralilla athu cheyyan....Its a 2 hour entertainer and the charachter has resembelance with the original cassanova.
Sure to be another milestone in Mohanlals Career as well as Roshans career.
Cassanova shooting will starts on April 15th....
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi in JANAKAN --Report
JANAKAN
Cast
Mohanlal as Advocate Sooryanarayanan, Suresh Gopi, Kaveri, Biju Menon, Harisree Ashokan, Vijayaraghavan, Jyothirmayee
Direction
NR Sanjeev
Producer
Arun under the banner of line of colours
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues
S N Swamy
Cinematography
Sanjeev Shanker
Lyrics
Gireesh Puthencherry
Music
M Jayachandran
Distribution
Max Lab Release
Release date
April 1st
Synopsis
After "Erupathaam Nootandu, Vazhiyoorakazchagal, Rajavinte Magan, Guru, Manichitrathaazhu, Twenty - 20, Pakalnakshtrangal etc ...mohanlal, sureshgopi is back with a new thriller.
Suresh Gopi plays a family man, who along with his friends, gets involved in a murder and is on the run. Mohanlal plays a criminal lawyer in the film. Only his brilliance can save the friends from certain punishment. Will he be able to do that ? That is the question ???????
Monday, March 1, 2010
Mohanlal's new film "Oru Nal Varum"
>--- Oru Naal Varum ► PREVIEWS ---<
Banner
Maniyan Pillai Raju Productions
Director
TK Rajeev Kumar
Producer
Maniyan Pillai Raju
Writer
Sreenivasan
Lyrics
Kaattakada Murukan
Music Director
MG Sreekumar
Cinematography
Manoj Pillai
Editing
Ajith
Distribution
Damor Release
Main Cast
Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Maniyan Pillai Raju, Sameera Reddy, Nedumudi Venu, Lalu Alex, Sidhique, Suraj Venjaramood, Devayani etc
Tags: Mohanlal, Latest news, new malayalam films, lalettan, Sameera reddy, Mohanlal and Sameera reddy
Sunday, February 28, 2010
"Alexander the Great" Reports
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Mohanlal plays the role of Alexander Varma, in the movie Alexander the Great. The movie has our superstar essaying the role of a person with extraordinary IQ who is a half-Christian and half Hindu. Through his brilliant business moves and intense humor he becomes a huge business magnet and also wins the heart of all his comrades. But as his business expands so does his enemies. But still he fights against all these barriers and moves along successfully. But fate does not leave him. He is caught for some serious crime and put in jail. Again he does not lose hope and tries to catch the real culprits.
The shooting of the movie will start on May 20th in Trivandrum. A total of 45 days has been allotted by Mohanlal and the shooting of the movie will end by the end of June. After all the other works the movie is expected to release by the end of July.
STARRING
Mohanlal as alexander, Siddique, Jagathy Sreekumar , Innocent ,Bala , Saikumar, Jagadeesh and others also play key roles in the movie.Ashwathy Ashok of Moss n Cat fame has been considered for the lead heroine role
DIRECTION
Murali Nagavalli
STORY,SCREENPLAY,DIALOGUES
By debutant C. Balu
PRODUCER
V.B.K menon under the banner of anugraha movie arts
